New neighbourhood plan has a strong focus on the creek and watershed, but lacks funding for community amenities

Good morning, 

Nate with you today. I was just on Galiano for a weekend trip, and it got me thinking about the balance between planning and spontaneity. I often find myself paralyzed with trips like this, wanting to act spontaneously but fearing the consequences of not planning ahead. 

The Gulf Islands are stunning this time of year, and that’s why tens of thousands of visitors flock to them every summer. That popularity means a spur-of-the-moment trip could end up being more stressful than enjoyable.  

I had made ferry reservations for the getaway in late July but hadn’t booked accommodation. The friends I was travelling with wanted to camp at Montague Park, which I was convinced would be full — even with the dozen or so first-come, first-serve spots we saw online. 

Turns out it was no problem, and we easily got sites side by side. Crisis averted 😮‍💨 

While some degree of planning is extremely helpful (we were not getting on that Sunday afternoon ferry home without a reso), there are other pieces where you can relax and let things flow naturally. The challenge is in distinguishing what’s needed. 

Speaking of planning ahead, it’s probably a good thing to do when it comes to changing a neighbourhood. And that’s what the city has done around Rupert and Renfrew with a recently approved area plan that we’ll be diving deeper into today. 

Let’s get to it!

— Nate Lewis, Vancity Lookout

As always, you can send your tips, leads, and story ideas to Nate at [email protected].

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free. 

WEATHER

Wednesday: 22 🌡️ 14 | 🌤️

Thursday: 19 🌡️ 14 | ☁️

Friday: 17 🌡️ 14 | 🌧️

RENFREW HEIGHTS

New neighbourhood plan has a strong focus on the creek and watershed, but lacks funding for community amenities

In July, city council approved the Rupert and Renfrew Station Area Plan, which would allow for significant new housing and mixed-use development around those two SkyTrain stations and the surrounding neighbourhoods. 

Vancity Lookout’s managing editor Geoff put together an overview of the plan at the time. It’s a good starting point for understanding the changes coming to the area, especially around housing, in a part of the city that’s still mainly made up of detached homes. 

But it’s also an area with unique geographic and ecological features, including the city’s only remaining ravine and an important creek. Still Creek runs through the Renfrew Ravine, around the Renfrew Park Community Centre, and down past Grandview Highway and Rupert Station. 

Protecting and enhancing the stream is a key part of the plan, according to the city. It’s a culmination of the extensive work the city has done in the past few years in the Still Creek Watershed. A study of the watershed identified an area for daylighting (letting the water flow above ground rather than in pipes) of the creek and expansion of surrounding habitat between Renfrew St. and Boundary Road. That guidance has been incorporated into the broader area plan as a way to improve the stream’s ecology and reduce the impact of flooding.

The plan also includes a groundwater protection area, with limits on the underground footprint of new developments.

“I feel like it's one of the first times where the watershed has been front and centre in the planning process for the different neighbourhoods that have been happening. So that part, I'm very pleased about,” said Carmen Rosen, the founder and artistic director of Still Moon Arts Society.

Still Moon has led artistic events and environmental stewardship in the Renfrew Ravine and around Still Creek since 2003 when they put on the first Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. It’s a tradition that’s still going strong – the festival’s 23rd edition will take place this fall. 

“We're on to our second generation, like some of the kids that helped out [early on] are now parents and are bringing their kids to the festival. [It’s] very exciting to see that. So we have 23 years of families and communities being involved in the festival, and every year it brings people to the banks of Still Creek,” Rosen told Vancity Lookout. 

The festival usually involves lantern and art displays throughout Renfrew Park and on the trails next to the ravine, with different music and dance performances happening within the ravine itself. This year’s Moon Festival will run for nearly a month, starting on September 8. The main event day will be on Saturday, October 4th.   

Rosen, an artist who has lived in Renfrew Heights for 25 years, attributes the group’s success to its persistence – something that paid off in a major way when chum salmon returned to spawn in Still Creek in 2012, 80 years after they disappeared from the area. It’s currently one of the only salmon-bearing streams in the city. 

“We’ve watched them spawning down behind Canadian Tire on Grandview Highway,” Rosen said, explaining that the salmon haven’t yet been able to make it up through the underground piped portion of the creek along Renfrew to the park and ravine area.  

“We still have big goals… We would like the creek to be daylit and healthy enough so that eventually we could be hanging out [in Renfrew Park] and the ravine and watch the salmon there,” Rosen said, adding that the expanded creek habitat by the SkyTrain stations is a good step in that direction.  

The area plan also gestures at the possibility of a greenway or multi-use path on the south side of the expanded creek area between Grandview Highway and the SkyTrain line. However, that would require funding and land deals between the city and the existing landowners in the corridor, making it far from certain at this point.

The focus on improving the ecology of Still Creek, while further integrating it into the neighbourhood, is a highlight of the area plan. However, community leaders see the lack of money for social and recreational infrastructure as a significant weakness. 

Renfrew Park Community Centre (RPCC) sits just steps away from where Still Creek flows out of the ravine, where the waterway runs beside and under a series of paths and boardwalks in the park.

“The building is 60 years old and we're at capacity… all our classes are booked, all our courses are pretty much full… Even [with] just the regular growth in the area, not including the [projected 18,000+ people moving in due to the area plan], we would start needing more rooms,” Renfrew Park Community Association president Anthony Mehnert told Vancity Lookout. 

Renfrew-Collingwood already has some of the lowest community centre access in the city. With only one community centre and over 50,000 people already living there as of 2022, the neighbourhood falls far below the city’s goals for community centre space per person. 

The city’s area plan doesn’t come with any actual funding for the community centre Mehnert said, despite a 2022 park board strategy that ranked RPCC as the second highest priority for renewal. 

In the new area plan, staff put “planning/design for the renewal and expansion” of the Renfrew Community Centre and Pool as a 10-year priority, estimating it would cost about $19 million, with about 65 per cent of that coming from the city and the rest from developers. 

But that’s probably not realistic in terms of long-term investment. “A community center at 60 years old, you can't really do much with it. [The whole thing] would need to be replaced, including the pool,” Mehnert said, estimating it would cost just under $100 million right now, based on similar projects in Marpole, Burnaby, and Coquitlam. 

However, with aging infrastructure all over the city – including 11 community centres in need of renewal – and shrinking development contributions due to provincial legislation, community services are in fierce competition for a shrinking funding pot.  

Rosen agrees that the plan’s weakness is the lack of funding for infrastructure, such as artist spaces.  “I think the vision is good, but the muscle behind the cultural and social amenities is not there,” Rosen said. 

Still Moon Arts Society has survived by doing everything outside, Rosen said. Still Moon partnered with an artist from Denman Island to build a cob house on a sliver of parkland on the northwestern edge of the ravine, but other than that, the society has no dedicated space to operate out of. 

“People are working out of their garages… we don't have a hub for arts and culture,” in the neighbourhood, Rosen explained. 

The area plan includes consideration for increased height and density for new buildings in the industrial area around Grandview Highway if they expand or create artist studio space as part of redevelopment. 

“I’m hopeful the words they've said in there will actually turn into real things,” Rosen said, “But [the plan] needs a bit more muscle behind the nice words.”

THE VANCOUVER NUMBER

5-6%

That’s how much property taxes would need to increase in 2026 in order to maintain existing levels of municipal services, according to the city. You can provide input on the city’s 2026 budget priorities through its online survey. [COV]

THE AGENDA

🙊 The City is refusing to disclose if severance was paid to former city manager Paul Mochrie. In addition to being a break from tradition, this further perpetuates the mystery at City Hall around whether or not Mochrie left of his own accord. Read more. [Vancouver Sun]

🙈 Mayor Ken Sim is scheduled to speak at this weekend’s “Learning Bitcoin” conference, headlining a panel titled “Bitcoin and the City of Vancouver”. Other locally-focused sessions include “Heating Kitsilano Pool with Bitcoin Mining.” Tickets are $150 per person for general admission or $400 if you want access to the speakers’ green room. Read more. [Vancouver is Awesome]

🚗 A Vancouver bylaw regulating ride-sharing apps has been struck down by the B.C. Supreme Court. Uber Canada, which brought the case forward, has yet to say if the elimination of the bylaw, which required drivers to have a permit to pick up or drop off passengers in Metro Vancouver between 7 am and 10 pm, will result in lower fees for customers. Read more. [BIV]

🧑‍⚖️ The province will appeal the recent court ruling granting the Cowichan Nation fishing rights and Aboriginal title over a parcel of land in Richmond. The Musqueam and Tsawwassen First Nations also indicated their opposition to the court ruling. Read more. [CBC]

♿ Vancouver commuters using mobility devices are calling out TransLink for a lack of accessibility on the new SkyTrain Mark V trains. Commuters with disabilities note that in some stations, the train doesn’t line up with the platform, requiring them to bridge the gap onto the train, which is nearly impossible in a wheelchair. TransLink has told users it is looking at ways to modify platforms to make the trains more accessible. Read more. [Global News]

HOME OF THE WEEK

This lovely little place caught my eye.

To be fair, little is probably not the right way to describe it. At 707 square feet, it’s a good size for a one-bedroom apartment. It’s got many modern features, including a beautiful hardwood floor, a good-sized kitchen, and a large bedroom.

And the best part? It’s pretty affordable (for Vancouver). 

— Curated by Lookout managing editor Geoff Sharpe

VANCOUVER ARTS GUIDE

Performance

Improv lovers will want to check out the Improv Centre’s multiple shows throughout the week, from Wednesday to Sunday, with matinees and nightly options on Saturday and Sunday.

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is on until Aug. 24 at the Granville Island Stage and is a classic murder mystery performed live. 

Don’t forget about the Kitsilano Showboat shows, with Venezuelan Folk Dance on Saturday and the closing show of the season on Sunday. 

There are a bunch of bigger shows throughout the month, including a Daft Punk tribute band, Creed, ZZ Top, and Billy Strings.

Art

I can’t believe we’ve never featured them before, but Art Downtown transforms Lot 19, 855 West Hastings, into an open-air art show. There will be live performances and artists creating works live. The last show of the summer is this Thursday, from 11 am to 5 pm. 

Vines Art Festival is back until Aug. 16. It’s an intimate experience, songs, dances and stories, performed for free at different parks across the city. 

For those interested in photography, make sure to circle Nov. 7. Polygon Theatre will begin showing a series by renowned portrait, war and fashion photographer Lee Miller.

Movies

Controversial, depending on how you look at it, love triangle movie Materialists by Selene Song is showing this week at VIFF. You can also catch classics, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Moonlight, and Get Out. 

It’s a busy week at Rio, with the unforgettable Vertigo, In the Mood for Love, Spike Lee’s newest feature Highest 2 Lowest, and the Schwarzenegger classic True Lies. 

PHOTO OF THE DAY

The big haze that descended over the city yesterday evening sure looked (and felt) spooky but there’s low risk to air quality in the next couple of days, according to the Weather Network.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Here’s the best way to see the Perseid meteor shower. [VIA]

• Looking for the best pizza in Vancouver? The Straight team are voting on them [Georgia Straight]

• Canadian Blood Services is in desperate need of O-negative blood. Donations take approximately one hour and can save three lives. [Canadian Blood Services]

• Fridays Hike Club is bringing together 300+ women in the Lower Mainland interested in hiking. [VIA]

• The fourth yearly installment of Vinícola Portugal will be returning to Heritage Hall on September 27. [Georgia Straight]

GAME TIME

You may or may not need this to indulge in summer fun. Can you make out what it is?

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